PRELIMINARY REMARKS. IGD 



In the time of a nation's extreme need, some of the disquaUfications named should 

 not exempt the subjects of them from mihtary servi(;e ; but, certainly, foi- the standing- 

 army of to-day, (quantum mutatus !) which is scattered along- 12,000 miles of frontier, 

 there is no policy to be served in selecting any but the most physically perfect men. 



Tiie opinions expressed in the reports as to the number of men who can be sub- 

 jected to a competent physical examination in the course of a working-day vary to a 

 consideralde extent. The smallest number reported is 25, and the largest 100. The 

 result must have depended greatly upon the a.ssistance rendered to the surgeon, and 

 upon the number of working-hours of daylight. If a succession of men, already 

 stripped, were sent in to the examining-room without loss of time, and an active clerk 

 recorded the facts from the dictation of the surgeon, it is fair to estimate that .00 men 

 could be properly examined in a day. 



The frauds practiced by the drafted man in order to evade the service demanded 

 of him, and by the substitute or volunteer to obtain the coveted enlistment, are gj-aph- 

 ically described in many of these reports. The art of feigning oi- of concealing disease 

 was carried to a high degree of perfection under the tutelage of the bounty-broker.' 

 An especially nefarious deception, often practiced, was the substitution of an unsound 

 man for a sound one while the men were in transit from the place of enrollment to the 

 camp of rendezvous. Upon arrival at the latter, the result would be the dischai-ge of 

 the man and consequent discredit being- cast upon the surgeon who had examined 

 him. 



The system of re-examining recruits at the camps of rendezvous led to much dis- 

 satisfaction and recrimination. As a rule, the examining-surgeon at the headquarters 

 of his district did his work with all possible care, and Was most likely to arrive at a just 

 conclusion in regard to a doubtful case, either from his knowledge of the man or from 

 his opportunity of consulting the neighbors as to his history. Notwithstanding this, the 

 su geon frequently had the mortification to find his decision reversed, and the man dis- 

 chai'ged by the board of examiners at the camp. A sinnlar complaint has been made 

 in France in regard to the councils of revision. Indeed, a distinguished military sur- 

 geon gravely recommends that the members of a council of revision should each be 

 compelled to carr)' a soldier's equipment for four or five days, that they might there- 

 after be able to decide questions from practical knowledge and nor, from mere theory.^ 

 The eighth paragraph of the circular requested from the surgeon an opinion as to 

 which nativity furnished the most capable soldier. In one hundred selected reports, 

 the preference is expressed — 



By Ih for Americans; 



By 9 for Germans; 



By 8 for Irishmen; 



By 2 for Englishmen; 



By 2 for Canadians; 



By 1 for Scotchmen; 



By 3 for colored men. 



' This name was giveu to a clas.s ofnieu wlio made a biisiues.s of procuring .substitutes, finding uicii wberewith to 

 fill up a quota, or olaiUiug a conscripted man to obtain exemption on false ceitilicates or through feigned dihorders. 

 * Statiatiquc m^ico-chir. de la campagne d'ltalie en 1859-1860, par J. C. CiiENU, t. li, p. 904. 



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